Winter Newsletter

Check out the latest Winter Newsletter, e-news.
-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc. GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Family Festival in Cambridge this weekend (3/9/2013)

This weekend is a great familiy event at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, several years ago the museum held the Insect Planet event, has changed into the Family Festival (which it was last year).  This Saturday, from 9 to 4 at the Museum located on 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge is the Family Festival, "Stories through Time."  Filled with activities the event is a great way to expose children to the fabulous Museum of Natural History with activities and games that they'll love.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc. GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Early Termite Swarms

In our area, interior termite swarms have shown up each week over the past several weeks as warm weather pops up.  The ground has plenty of moisture, which combined with warm weather and an enlcosed space, like a boiler room or near a furnace or hot water heater, will lead to a termite swarm.  Swarmers that land inside in New England have no chance to set up a colony and survive.  Outside, a swarm will result in the insects pairing up, mating, and the new kings and queens digging a small nest in the ground.  The king will search for a food source and the queen will lay eggs to grow the colony.

This time of year, swarmers are indicators of a colony with access inside a structure, but the swarms will not lead to more termite colonies inside.  For more information, check out this link from UMASS on Termites.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.


www.GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Clothes Moths

Clothes Moth Pupae Casing

Frass on floor

You can see the white pupa casing on the back of this oriental rug.  This site had clothes moths, and of 8 oriental rugs, 6 had readily visible evidence of activity.  These photos are all from the rear of the rugs or the floors beneath them.  The next photo is the hardwood floor and the grainy frass left by the larval stage feeding on the rug.

White line highlights the line the larval stage ate from the rug.

Winter Moth-Active Last Night



Winter Moth

 The moth surrounding your outside lights last night was the winter moth.  They have been active over the past few weeks and will continue to be active.  These adults are emerging from pupae casings in the soil.  The winter moth male and female will mate on a tree trunk, where the female will lay her eggs on the bark.  To protect landscape plants, including trees and shrubs, a variety of options exist, from late winter and early spring horticultural oil sprays to suffocate the eggs, to injection of a tree to kill the feeding larva, to spraying the foliage to kill the feeding larva.  For more winter moth information, contact us, or check out the Winter Moth web page at UMass.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.


www.GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Split Stem - Tree Repair

Here is an interesting case from two years ago, a heavy wet snow split the stem of a yew.  We cleared off the snow, drilled holes in the stem and bolted the tree back together upright.  Two years later, the tree  is healing around the bolts and doing great.



Winter 2009-2010



Fall 2012

Fall 2012

 -Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.

GreenHow.com. Effective Organic and Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control and Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

A Dog on a Mission

Pets will often use their great sense of smell and hearing to locate visitors to your home.  Customers often point to an area that a dog or cat will stare at indicating an animal, such as a mouse, in the area.  I was just reading the Fall/Winter Issue of Sanctuary, published by the Mass Audobon Society.  THe issue is title, "All Through the House," and is about how our homes exist in the landscape both using resources and providing resources to wildlife.  The entire magazine is full of great articles, as always, but the one titled, "A Dog of Singular Intent," (link to it provided) is an entertaining story about a dog obsessed with the rodents at the house.
-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager,
GreenHow, Inc. GreenHow.com.
Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston